The present invention relates generally to the field of battery cells and batteries and, more specifically, to thin electrode batteries.
The present commonly used methods of producing electrochemical battery cells is to fabricate anodes and cathodes as separate, self-supporting elements within the cell. The anode and cathode are electrically isolated from each other with a porous separator. Each electrode usually has a low resistance current collector and bus lead required to make the battery energy available to a load with a minimum of internal battery losses. In addition to the working elements of the battery cell an envelope package must be supplied to contain the liquid electrolyte and the anode, cathode, separator and current collectors.
A severe limitation to the normal construction of the battery cell is the porosity of the separator. The separator needs to be porous in order to allow unrestricted ion flow through the electrolyte. This needed porosity, however, also allows the formation and growth of dendrites of conducting metal to bridge between the anode and cathode. If a dendrite formation completes a bridge, the cell becomes short circuited and this destroys the useful capacity of the cell. Conventional battery cells also suffer from the shortcoming that they require a separate package for enclosing the cell, which package is usually nonfunctional with respect to the generation of current.